Minor items in a 2014 Civic LX
 

I’ve had my 2014 Civic LX for a couple of months and noted some minor items. In advance of going to the dealership, I wanted to see if anyone had any related ideas/experience.

1. Occasionally, for brief periods, i-MID will not display radio information, but I can hear the radio ok.

2. At least two times, i-MID kept displaying incorrect radio information when the Source button on the steering wheel was pressed. Specifically, the cursor would land on the spot for AM, but the spot would show “FM” even though selecting that spot with the cursor resulted in AM broadcast.

3. For brief periods, the bottom LED of the instrument panel looks different than normal. Instead of a blue glow, the LED has an oily appearance. This lasts no more than a couple of minutes. This bottom LED is not part of the Eco Assist Ambient Meter.

4. AM radio sounds flat and somewhat muffled even after adjusting bass. But FM sounds fine.

Thanks

Re: Minor items in a 2014 Civic LX
 

How long does this "brief period" last?


Was this related to the first complaint above?

"Oily appearance"?

It took me a couple minutes to figure out what part of the meter set you are talking about (at least I think I figured it out), and I own a 9th gen.
Poor description all around IMO. Definitely need to demonstrate this.

Unless you have something unusual going on, AM is like that.
That's why 99% of music was moved to FM back in the 70s, AM just doesn't produce high quality sound for music reproduction. It's fine for vocal though.

Compare your radio to an identical car.


Also read: http://www.diffen.com/difference/AM_vs_FM
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You will definitely need to demonstrate each of your concerns to the service personnel before you leave your car.

We get many complaints that can't be duplicated.
We get just as many people that can't accurately describe their (valid) complaints, and service counter help that can't understand YET will not take 3 minutes to go to the car with the driver to try to understand what they meant.

So get everyone involved on the same page: demonstrate it.

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I found no service bulletins related to your complaints with radio and IMID, nor the gauge cluster lights.
I am not aware of any software updates for the 14 Civics radio or IMID as of yet.

The radio and IMID are both computers that just happen to make noise and display a picture. They are susceptible to power variations and software glitches. (Sometimes strange things can happen, then they go back to normal after a restart, much like any personal computer.)




HTH

Re: Minor items in a 2014 Civic LX
 

Several minutes

No, #1 and #2 are separate.

If the LED were off completely, it would simply be black. But when the LED looks abnormal, it is gray with wavy lines, kind of like the appearance of a pool of dark oil.

AM in my new car does not sound nearly as good as AM in my (very) old car. Since FM sounds ok in my new car, it seems that a speakers problem can be ruled out.

Thank you for the research/input.